by: Gianfranco Belgrano | March 20, 2024
“Inclusive governance, participatory and partnership approach with African countries and concreteness”. These are the key words that emerged from the first session of the Control Room on the Mattei Plan according to Roberto Ridolfi, president of Link 2007 and among the participants in the meeting.
“Our commitment, as Link 2007, was to provide comments on the summary note received. In particular, we raised the issue of partnership with civil society, which has tens of thousands of collaborators in African countries. The cooperation and experience of civil society are also valuable resources for governments and businesses in pursuing sustainable development. We also highlighted the importance of managing public debt, which limits the ability to provide social services to citizens.”
On the issue of debt, Link 2007 has already intervened in the past and plans to do so also in view of the G7.
“To guarantee the success of the Mattei Plan which, as announced by President Meloni, already has 9 proposals in as many countries, it is essential to mitigate the risks in collaboration with the European Union” said Ridolfi. “Sovereign, sectoral, social and financial risks must be addressed with everyone’s contribution. Everyone will have to do their part. We in civil society can help reduce the risk of excluding the most vulnerable, violating human dignity and land rights and adopting unsustainable practices”.
Finally, the president of Link 2007 said, “we presented our experience in promoting human capital through training, a topic raised by everyone in the control room. This is fundamental to create decent and sustainable employment in the countries that originate migration and in Europe, demonstrating how important reciprocity is between the African and European continents.”
A few days ago, Link 2007 published a long analysis document on the Mattei Plan, signed by Nino Sergi.
“Can the Mattei Plan with Africa be successful?” – this is the title of the document – in 12 chapters it covers the vast world of development cooperation in relation to the Mattei Plan.
“To begin with – we read in the article that accompanied the diffusion of the text – we must welcome the fact that Africa is a political priority for the Italian Government. During the recent Italy-Africa summit, Prime Minister Meloni hoped that the Plan could ‘represent a new page in the history of our relations, cooperation as equals, far from any predatory temptation’. For now, there is no overall strategy in sight that could clarify what is meant by peer-to-peer, non-predatory cooperation. However, the novelty lies – and it is no small thing – in the full and resolute assumption among the government priorities of a special partnership with a continent that borders Italy and Europe across the shores of the shared Mediterranean”. It is, we further read, a priority partnership which will require the involvement of the skills present in the Italian system: universities, businesses, civil society bodies, local authorities, organizations of the African diasporas which represent a privileged bridge between Italy and the countries of origin, development cooperation NGO.
Fundamental, we read again, is the financial aspect. “Tens of thousands of projects have been implemented over the years, with valid partnerships between Italy and African countries, despite the fact that financial resources have always remained much lower than the international commitment to dedicate 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) to assistance public development agency (APS). Despite attempts to “inflate” the figures, in 2022 Italy remains in 21st place in the OECD ranking, with disbursements equal to 0.33% of GNI. The Mattei Plan – as underlined by Link 2007 – will soon have to find financial instruments that ensure resources “much more substantial than the 5.5 billion euros announced for the first four years”, albeit significant, obtained from the allocations of the Italian Climate Fund and the Cooperation to development. “The best way to do this is to build a partnership with Africa that involves the entire European Union. The hope is that greater attention to Africa can also influence the choices of international financial institutions and encourage the strengthening of African financial institutions for development”.
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